LA to NYC...did I sign up for this?

Okay okay.  I understand the concern.  "Where have you been?", you might ask.  Or perhaps,"We were sick with worry."  Maybe even, "We couldn't function without your insight."  Or you actually probably didn't think a nit about it.  Because I know I forgot.

So here I am again, keeping myself accountable.  It's been a good four months since I last wrote anything, so here's a brief recap:

-I went to upstate NewYork to workshop a children's musical.

-I got cast and shot an independent film/pilot presentation in LA.

-I had Thanksgiving with my Mom for the first time in three years in NYC.

-I went home for the holidays for the first time in two years in LA.

All in all, not terribly eventful and yet enormously so.  Most people accrue a couple thousand frequent flyer miles in six months to a year.  I accrued 8000 in three.  And for the first time in my life I got tired of travel.

Now let me explain.  For as long as I can remember, I've loved travelling.  I couldn't get enough.  Flights, to me, were like something out of magic.  I tried caviar for the first time on a plane (loved it).  I tried coffee for the first time on a plane (hated it....but not for long).  It was the most intense, awesome experience.  To be in one place and in the span of a few hours to find yourself somewhere so foreign, you had to recalibrate everything.  That was amazing to me!

So I thought nothing of the travel plans some four months ago before I started.  Just another adventure.

But this time around, it wasn't an adventure.  It was work, and for long stretches of time.  And each time I realized that I was leaving behind friends in either place.  I had always thought that we would pick up right where we left off, but in actuality I was missing out on hanging around, being with them, joking with them, doing stupid things with them.  I'm putting each friendship/relationship in stasis.  To constantly travel and work.  I love what I do, but I think a bit more balance might be in order.

Somewhere in my soul is this incredible feeling of motion.  I love stillness, but invariably a moment of pure adrenaline will rush me off to do something.  And travel has become a huge component of that.  My chance to discover a new place, a new perspective, new people, if just for a little while.  If there was a shuttle to Mars, I would be the first one on it.

So now I am in the middle of a dilemma:  How do I find the balance within work and life?  How do I give and respect each in equal measure?   For now, I can only be where I am and enjoy where I am.  But something is coming.  What?  I can't say.   But I can keep my eyes open.